I usually don’t choose to watch black-and-white films because I’m always worried I’d get so bored and fall asleep but I’m so glad I chose to watch this particular film and I actually really appreciated the fact that it was in black-and-white because of the subject matter.

The film is set in Seoul but of a different timeline sometime in the future where our protagonist Kim Shin-dong is an office worker struggling to survive in an increasingly polluted city where only the “lucky” people get the chance to escape to ‘Sphere 2’ which is supposedly a city where a better reality awaits. As if life isn’t already difficult enough, his landlord suddenly asks him to find a new place to live and in his efforts to avoid being evicted from his rental home, Shin-dong ends up subletting his bathroom and soon begins to live in an even bigger nightmare…

While I was watching this film, I was a little sad at how easily I related to the bleak future depicted because our current society and reality isn’t that far off from the dystopian world shown where everyone is struggling to survive while working in jobs which suck our souls and rent (as well as other living costs) just keeps increasing and we are witnessing all the effects of climate change… But I digress.

At first, we see how Shin-dong gets inconvenienced with this new living arrangement but it’s not too bad because hey, at least he’s not getting kicked out of his place. But then inconvenience soon turns into creepy invasion of personal space and things start getting unbearable until Shin-dong suddenly gets a real chance at moving to ‘Sphere 2’ and starts working hard towards that goal in hopes of escaping his current hellish conditions. Unfortunately hope is a paper boat that sinks (if you know this reference, we can be friends) and we soon see that not all is what it seems…

The plot twist in this film was insane and actually the whole film became even more depressing at the end (if that was even possible) but the strange thing was… I didn’t feel that heavy depressed feeling after. Maybe the dark humour helped to balance the depressing reality? I just remember thinking that, “Wow, that was a good movie,” when it ended.

This film was screened at BIFAN 2024.

Thank you to the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival for the opportunity to cover this year’s festival!